Stanford Law School Withdraws 'Mentor' Title From Lawyer Facing Charges of Aiding Terrorists By KATHERINE S. MANGAN
A defense lawyer indicted on charges of helping her client direct terrorist activities from jail may not serve as a mentor for Stanford University law students, the law school's dean has announced in a decision that has angered some students.
The dean, Kathleen M. Sullivan, said that the head of the law school's public-interest programs had not adequately consulted with faculty members and administrators before offering Lynne Stewart the title of mentor. Although the dean did not object to allowing Ms. Stewart to speak on the campus, Ms. Sullivan announced that she had rescinded the mentorship title.
Mentors, who receive an honorarium and travel expenses, provide individual career-counseling sessions with students, along with group discussions.
Ms. Stewart is a New York-based lawyer who represented Sheikh Omar Abdel Rahman, the Muslim cleric convicted of plotting the 1993 World Trade Center bombing. She was arrested in April and charged with criminal conspiracy for allegedly helping her client spread his messages to an Egyptian-based terrorist group. She has pleaded not guilty to the federal charges and is free on bond.
Ms. Stewart's case has been championed by defense lawyers who fear that the government's anti-terrorism crackdown is making it hard for them to protect their clients against government abuses. She was a featured speaker last week at a standing-room-only forum sponsored by Stanford's public-interest law groups.
Ms. Stewart said on Tuesday that she was "upset and a little bit hurt" when she received a letter faxed to her hotel notifying her of the dean's decision. But she said she was heartened by the support of faculty members and students. Even though her title of mentor -- and the pay that goes with it -- was withdrawn, she spent all day Tuesday meeting one-on-one with students, talking about issues such as the challenges of being a public-interest lawyer and handling politically unpopular cases.
Shahid A. Buttar, a third-year law student at Stanford, says he was "outraged" by the dean's decision, which he called "a vitriolic, knee-jerk response by an administration that's afraid of losing donations."
Many students who plan to pursue careers in public-interest law were eager to meet with a defense lawyer who "is in the cross hairs of Attorney General Ashcroft's war on terrorism," Mr. Buttar said. "We refuse to allow the administration to keep her from us. She has a lot to say, and we have a lot to learn from her."
Ms. Sullivan said the law school was in no way trying to censor a controversial speaker.
"Stanford Law School welcomes discussion and promotes rigorous debate on difficult and controversial issues," she said in a statement released on Friday. While the student-sponsored conference was an appropriate venue for Ms. Stewart as a speaker, "it has come to my attention that Ms. Stewart has expressed sympathy for and tacit endorsement of the use of directed violence to achieve social change," the dean's statement said. "Therefore I have decided that it is not appropriate to confer the title of David W. Mills Public Interest Mentor to Ms. Stewart, and have today issued a letter to Ms. Stewart rescinding the offer to serve in the capacity of mentor to our students during her visit."
Eduardo Capulong, director of the law school's public-interest programs, did not return telephone calls on Tuesday.